“Do as much as you can with a project BEFORE you start investing a lot of money into it. Test your prototype, polish it, get it to as perfect as possible before spending. From there you can start investing in the art, editing, etc., but get it as close to final as you can first – it can save you a lot of future headaches.”

— Isaac Vega

Designing board games with manufacturing in mind—tips for cutting costs without sacrificing gameplay (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF8Pvz_18Rg

When to abandon one of your board game designs, when not to, and when to just put it on pause for a bit:

https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2023/10/11/when-to-abandon-a-game-youve-designed/

Recommendations for board games that game designers should play to learn about mechanics and industry trends (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvUAri5EAbw

Why you shouldn’t worry too much if your next board game design doesn’t come together faster and easier than your previous one:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2023/10/next-game-blues.html

Advice for sticking with a board game design when the going gets tough—a Bluesky board game design discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/gregisonthego.bsky.social/post/3kb4jlzignk2x

How one-off “experience in a box” games change the value equation for both players and publishers:

https://imaginarysword9074488.wordpress.com/2023/10/05/how-experience-in-a-box-games-change-the-value-equation/

Getting a prototype ready for the Cardboard Edison Award—and then for a crowdfunding campaign after winning (audio):

https://buildingthegamepodcast.com/episode-591-diatoms-sound-super-fake-but-are-actually-super-real-and-super-cool/

Lots of playtesting advice for new board game designers—a Bluesky game designer discussion:

https://bsky.app/profile/gregisonthego.bsky.social/post/3ka5qzrfpmh2i

This color palette generator can help board game designers create more presentable prototypes:

https://coolors.co/

How to go from crowdfunding a project to selling it through e-commerce (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6CZw8snoro

Rob Daviau on how to playtest like a pro, receive feedback, iterate, and playtest a whole lot more (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt5_jrytBTs

Having a hit game can pose some surprising challenges for a publisher—here are some ways of handling a runaway success:

https://stonemaiergames.com/the-next-big-thing-how-to-handle-a-products-runaway-success/

Money in board games: modeling inflation, different components for money, loans in games, money that isn’t money, games without money, money as the theme, and more (scroll for English):

https://faidutti.com/blog/blog/2023/09/25/les-jeux-et-largent-money-and-games/

Balance: a deep, two-part discussion about what game balance is, why we care about it, how games can be balanced, and the downsides of overbalancing a design (audio):

https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/balance-pt-1-what-we-talk-about/

https://decisionspace.podbean.com/e/balance-pt-2-what-we-talk-about/

The board game designer’s oath: some best practices for doing right by your playtesters and fellow designers (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ekw8FYQUG4

Some reasons why players may find your game’s theme “boring”:

https://shippboardgames.blogspot.com/2023/09/boring-themes.html

How to receive feedback on your game and handle tricky situations with playtesters without stressing out about it too much (video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPgUrMbrudQ

Starting the process of signing a game with a publisher—some tips for breaking in as a newcomer:

https://twitter.com/TBG_on_FB/status/1702671776000393369

“Keep in mind that every game you create (or try to create) is a learning experience. Know that discarded games are not useless. You will always learn from a failed game. These are the ones that teach you the most. A shelved game is like negative feedback well given, you learn much more than with positive feedback.”

— Roberto Pinheiro